The Omnibus

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports

The Southwest Baptist men's track and field team took a giant step forward this past weekend at the MIAA championship meet. Solid performances came from many places: a senior had his furthest throw of the year, a sophomore had a great race in the mile and a freshman placed in the 800, but all of these performances clearly take a backseat to the outstanding performance of senior T. Jay Sanderson.
Sanderson began the weekend by anchoring the SBU distance medley relay (DMR) team to a first-place finish. In the DMR, sophomore Michael Pierce ran the lead-off 1,200-meter leg and handed the baton to freshman Jesse Kueker in first place. Kueker held the lead on his 400-meter leg and passed the baton to freshman Shawn Etzenhouser for the 800-meter segment of the relay. Etzenhouser maintained the lead and handed off to Sanderson with a four-second lead over second place. Sanderson was never challenged and finished the DMR with a four minute, 17 second mile. The DMR win marks the second win in three years for SBU in the event.
Next up for Sanderson was the one-mile run. His competition included three of the top 15 milers in NCAA Division II; one of which was the reigning MIAA champion. The reigning conference champion, junior Eric Wellman of Emporia State, led the first 600 meters before falling towards the back of the front pack. Junior Adam Akers of Central Missouri then took over the lead. Akers held the lead until Wellman made a huge move to the front of the field with 500 meters to go. Sanderson reacted and made the move with Wellman to the front of the pack. With 300 meters to go Sanderson took the lead from Wellman and never looked back.
With two gold medals under his belt, Sanderson looked for the trifecta later that day with a gold in the 3,000-meter run. Sanderson sat back in the pack through the first 10 of 15 laps.
With around five laps to go, Sanderson took the lead and separated himself from the pack. Sanderson was able to hold off a late surge from Wellman and sophomore Dustin Dixon of Missouri Southern to win the 3,000-meter run by less than three-tenths of a second.
Sanderson's three gold medals earned him the award of Most Outstanding Performer for the meet and helped SBU set a record for most team points scored at the conference meet.
Also turning in a solid performance for the Bearcats was senior thrower Ben Kirkpatrick in the weight throw. Kirkpatrick earned All-MIAA honors by breaking his own school record with a throw of 53 feet, 2.75 inches.
A day after earning gold in the DMR, Pierce and Etzenhouser came back to compete in the finals in their individual event. Pierce earned All-MIAA honors in the one-mile run for the second consecutive year. Pierce's time of 4:18.72 was a personal best for the indoor mile. In the 800-meter run, Etzenhouser was able to finish fourth and earn All-MIAA honors with a time of 1:58.56 in a very tactical race.
Next up for most of the 'Cats will be their first outdoor meet of the season at Washington University in St. Louis; however, Sanderson's indoor season is far from over. Next weekend Sanderson will travel to Iowa State University to compete against some of the best Division I runners in the nation. The following week, Sanderson will travel to Boston, Ma. to represent SBU at the NCAA Division II Championship meet.

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